Illinois Prairie Path

The Illinois Prairie Path (often called the Prairie Path and abbreviated IPP) is a network of 61 miles (98 km) of bicycle trails, mostly in DuPage County, Illinois. Portions of the trail extend west to Kane County and east to Cook County. Most of the trail is categorized as rail-to-trail, meaning that the bicycle path is built atop an old railroad right of way. In the case of the Prairie Path, the vast majority of its routing runs on the former right-of-way of the Chicago Aurora and Elgin Railroad. In August 2008, it was inducted into the Rails-to Trails hall of fame.

The Illinois Prairie Path consists of three distinct branches originating from a point just west of downtown Wheaton. The northwest branch is called the Elgin Branch and runs approximately 16 miles (26 km) to Elgin. This branch is the longest of the three. The southwest branch is called the Aurora Branch and runs approximately 14 miles (23 km) to Aurora. The eastern branch is known as the Main Stem and runs 15 miles (24 km) east to Forest Park at the Forest Park CTA station, where it crosses the historic Elmhurst Great Western Prairie.

All three branches are marked with concrete mile markers stating the name of the branch, and how many miles away from Wheaton the rider currently is, although the frequency and character of these markers varies from county to county.

After its conception, spurs were added to the system extending west from the Elgin Branch to Geneva (known as the Geneva Spur) and west from the Aurora Branch to Batavia (known as the Batavia Spur). These spur branches are 6 and 5 miles (10 and 9 km) long respectively, and are also marked with mile markers.

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